Camera System with Touch Focus and Method

ABSTRACT

Techniques for focusing a camera assembly on a moving object may include generating a preview video signal of a scene containing the object and analyzing the video signal to track movement of the moving object. As part of the analysis, a touch area for a touch sensitive electronic viewfinder of the camera assembly may be established. The touch area corresponds to the moving object and remains active in a former position of the object.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The technology of the present disclosure relates generally tophotography and, more particularly, to a camera system and method forfocusing on a moving object using touch input from a user.

BACKGROUND

Mobile and/or wireless electronic devices are becoming increasinglypopular. For example, mobile telephones, portable media players andportable gaming devices are now in wide-spread use. In addition, thefeatures associated with certain types of electronic devices have becomeincreasingly diverse. For example, many mobile telephones now includecameras that are capable of capturing still images and video images.

Photographing a moving object is notoriously difficult. One issue issetting the camera's focus on the object in time to take the desiredphoto. For instance, attempting to take a picture of a moving child, amoving animal, or action during a sporting event commonly results intaking a picture that is not focused on the intended object. Forinstance, the intended object may move from the foreground to thebackground in the time between focusing and capturing image data for thephotograph (e.g., in response to depressing a shutter release button).

In other situations, the photograph opportunity may be lost by the timethe user may adjust the focus. Some digital cameras, for example, allowthe user to select an object of interest by touching a correspondingarea of an electronic viewfinder. By the time that the user touches theviewfinder, the object may have moved. Thus, the touched spot no longercorresponds to the object of interest and the focus may not be proper.By the time the user has the opportunity to retouch the electronicviewfinder to reset the focus, the object may no longer be in thedesired location, may no longer be turned toward the camera, or thespontaneity of the situation may be lost.

SUMMARY

To enhance taking photographs of moving objects, the present disclosuredescribes an improved camera system and method that allows a user to setthe camera's focus on a moving object by touching a “hit area” that isassociated with the object. The hit area is a touch area of a touchsensitive electronic viewfinder. To facilitate the selection of theobject by touching the corresponding hit area, the hit area may beadjusted based on behavior of the moving object. For example, the activeduration of the hit area in a former location of the object on theelectronic viewfinder may be maintained for a predetermined duration.Another adjustment may include increasing or decreasing the size of thehit area, and/or adding an area corresponding to a predicted location ofthe object.

In one embodiment, the disclosed techniques for touch focusing mayinvolve a process of continuously caching movement data (e.g., for about1.5 seconds) for objects in the scene; analyzing the data to determinehow the objects move in time with respect to the viewfinder; dynamicallyrecalculating (and possibly predicting) a touch area; and activating thetouch area for a period of time (e.g., about 0.5 seconds). As willbecome more apparent, the disclosed techniques facilitate focusing on amoving item in a manner that was previously not possible using aconventional touch-focus approach. For instance, if a user desires tofocus on a fast moving item, such as a flying bird, the user would mostlikely not be able to use conventional touch focusing to successfullyset the focus of the camera. But the disclosed techniques providereliable manners in which touch focus may be used to focus on the movingitem.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a camera assembly includes atouch sensitive electronic viewfinder; focusable imaging optics; animage sensor for converting light focused by the imaging optics intoimage data in the form of a preview video signal of a scene thatcontains a moving object; and a controller configured to analyze thevideo signal to track movement of the moving object; and establish atouch area for the touch sensitive electronic viewfinder, the touch areacorresponding to the moving object and remaining active in a formerposition of the object.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, the touch arearemains active in the former position for a predetermined amount oftime.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, the object is anobject that is recognized using a recognition engine or optical flowprocessing.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, in response todetection of touching of the touch area, the controller is furtherconfigured to control focusing of the imaging optics so that the cameraassembly is focused on the object.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, the controller isfurther configured to capture image data and a store a photograph of thescene while the camera assembly is focused on the object.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, the controller isconfigured to repeat the analysis of the video signal and theestablishment of the touch area so that the touch area moves in a paththat follows movement of the object.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, the analysisincludes detecting the object as a possible focus target.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, the controller isfurther configured to graphically highlight the focus target on theelectronic viewfinder.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, at least one of aposition of the touch area, a movement of the touch area or a size ofthe touch area is adjusted based on a model that predicts an amount oftime a user will take to touch a displayed representation of the object.

According to one embodiment of the camera assembly, the touch areafurther includes a portion of the electronic viewfinder corresponding toa predicted location of the object.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a method of focusing acamera assembly on a moving object includes generating a preview videosignal of a scene containing the object; and analyzing the video signalto track movement of the moving object and to establish a touch area fora touch sensitive electronic viewfinder of the camera assembly, thetouch area corresponding to the moving object and remaining active in aformer position of the object.

According to one embodiment of the method, the touch area remains activein the former position for a predetermined amount of time.

According to one embodiment of the method, the object is an object thatis recognized using a recognition engine or optical flow processing.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes detectingtouching of the touch area and focusing the camera assembly on theobject.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes capturing imagedata of the scene and storing a photograph of the scene while the cameraassembly is focused on the object.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes repeating theanalyzing and establishing of the touch area so that the touch areamoves in a path that follows movement of the object.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes detecting theobject as a possible focus target.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes graphicallyhighlighting the focus target on the electronic viewfinder.

According to one embodiment of the method, the camera assembly formspart of a mobile telephone.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes adjusting atleast one of a position of the touch area, a movement of the touch areaor a size of the touch area based on a model that predicts an amount oftime a user will take to touch a displayed representation of the object.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a camera assemblyincludes a touch sensitive electronic viewfinder; imaging optics; animage sensor for converting light focused by the imaging optics intoimage data in the form of a preview video signal of a scene thatcontains a moving object; and a controller configured to analyze thevideo signal to track movement of the moving object; establish a toucharea for the touch sensitive electronic viewfinder, the touch areacorresponding to the moving object and remaining active in a formerposition of the object; and in response to detection of touching of thetouch area, adjusting at least one of a zoom setting so as to increase arelative size of the moving object in the viewfinder or a camera settingto adjust at least one of white balance, sensitivity, brightness, orflash settings based on the moving object.

These and further features will be apparent with reference to thefollowing description and attached drawings. In the description anddrawings, particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed indetail as being indicative of some of the ways in which the principlesof the invention may be employed, but it is understood that theinvention is not limited correspondingly in scope. Rather, the inventionincludes all changes, modifications and equivalents coming within thescope of the claims appended hereto.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to oneembodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one ormore other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of thefeatures of the other embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a front view and a rear view of anexemplary electronic device that includes a representative cameraassembly;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the electronic device of FIGS. 1and 2 as part of a communications system in which the electronic devicemay operate;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary technique for touch focusing;and

FIGS. 5 through 7 are exemplary representations of an electronicviewfinder while used for touch focusing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. It will be understood that the figures are not necessarilyto scale.

Described below in conjunction with the appended figures are variousembodiments of an improved camera system and method of camera operation.In the illustrated embodiments, the camera system is embodied as adigital camera assembly that is made part of a mobile telephone. It willbe appreciated that the disclosed camera technology may be applied toother operational contexts such as, but not limited to, a dedicatedcamera or another type of electronic device that has a camera. Examplesof these other devices include, but are not limited to a video camera, anavigation device (commonly referred to as a “GPS” or “GPS device”), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, a gaming device, a“web” camera, a computer (including an “ultra-mobile PC” and other typesof computers), and an accessory for another electronic device. Thecamera assembly may be used to capture image data in the form of stillimages, also referred to as pictures and photographs, but it will beunderstood that the camera assembly may be capable of capturing videoimages in addition to still images.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, an electronic device 10 is shown.The illustrated electronic device 10 is a mobile telephone. Theelectronic device 10 includes a camera assembly 12 for taking digitalstill pictures and/or digital video clips. It is emphasized that theelectronic device 10 need not be a mobile telephone, but could be adedicated camera or some other device as indicated above.

With additional reference to FIG. 3, the camera assembly 12 may bearranged as a typical camera assembly that includes imaging optics 14 tofocus light from a scene within the field of view of the camera assembly12 onto a sensor 16. The sensor 16 converts the incident light intoimage data. The imaging optics 14 may include a lens assembly andcomponents that that supplement the lens assembly, such as a protectivewindow, a filter, a prism, and/or a mirror. To adjust the focus of thecamera assembly 12, a focusing assembly 18 that includes focusingmechanics and/or focusing control electronics may be present inconjunction with the imaging optics 14. A zooming assembly also may bepresent to optically change the magnification of captured images. Othercamera assembly 12 components may include a flash 20, a light meter 22,a display 24 for functioning as an electronic viewfinder and as part ofan interactive user interface, a keypad 26 and/or buttons 28 foraccepting user inputs, an optical viewfinder (not shown), and any othercomponents commonly associated with cameras. One of the buttons 28 maybe a shutter key that the user may depress to command the taking of aphotograph.

Another component of the camera assembly 12 may be an electroniccontroller 30 that controls operation of the camera assembly 12. Thecontroller may be embodied, for example, as a processor that executeslogical instructions that are stored by an associated memory, asfirmware, as an arrangement of dedicated circuit components or as acombination of these embodiments. Thus, the method of operating thecamera assembly 12 may be physically embodied as executable code (e.g.,software) that is stored on a computer or machine readable medium, ormay be physically embodied as part of an electrical circuit. In anotherembodiment, the functions of the electronic controller 30 may be carriedout by a control circuit 32 that is responsible for overall operation ofthe electronic device 10. In this case, the controller 30 may beomitted. In another embodiment, camera assembly 12 control functions maybe distributed between the controller 30 and the control circuit 32.

The display 24 may be touch sensitive to receive user input. The sensor16 may capture data at a predetermined frame rate to generate a previewvideo signal that is displayed on the display 24 for operation as anelectronic viewfinder to assist the user compose photographs.

With additional reference to FIG. 4, illustrated is a flow diagram of anexemplary method of operating a camera assembly 12 to focus on a movingobject. The exemplary method may be carried out by executing code storedby the electronic device 10, for example. Thus, the flow chart of FIG. 4may be thought of as depicting steps of a method carried out by theelectronic device 10.

Variations to the illustrated method are possible and, therefore, theillustrated embodiment should not be considered the only manner ofcarrying out the techniques that are disclosed in this document. Also,while FIG. 4 shows a specific order of executing functional logicblocks, the order of executing the blocks may be changed relative to theorder shown. In addition, two or more blocks shown in succession may beexecuted concurrently or with partial concurrence. Certain blocks alsomay be omitted.

The logical flow may begin in block 34 where the control logic analyzesthe preview video signal for objects that may be of interest to the userand/or which may serve as the basis for targets upon which to set thefocus of the camera assembly 12. In one embodiment, possible focustargets may be detected by using a form of computer or machine visionthat analyzes the scene represented by the video signal for one or moreof faces of people, silhouettes of people, animals, or otherrecognizable objects (e.g., cars, boats, etc.). It will be appreciatedthat possible focus targets are not limited to these items. Detection ofpossible focus targets may be carried out using any appropriatetechnique, such as face detection or optical flow processing. Othertechniques may include face recognition, silhouette detection, animaldetection, object recognition, optical character recognition (OCR), andso forth. Optical flow processing may be used to detect and track amoving item, but where recognition of the type of object is not aconsideration. Rather, movement of the object drives the recognitionprocess. As will be understood, optical flow is the pattern of apparentmotion of an object, surface or edge in a visual scene.

With additional reference to FIG. 5, shown is an exemplaryrepresentation of an electronic viewfinder 24 that displays a previewimage 36 of a portion of a scene 38. The displayed portion of the scene38 is the portion of the scene that corresponds to the field of view ofthe camera assembly 12. In the example of FIG. 5, the scene is of agrassland with three lions. Using the analysis of block 34, the lions inthis example may be detected as possible focus targets 40. Of thesefocus targets 40, a first focus target 40 a is moving, a second focustarget 40 b is relatively stationary and third focus target 40 c isrelatively stationary.

To assist the user in visually identifying the objects in the scene 38that have been identified as focus targets 40, the focus targets 40 maybe graphically highlighted in an appropriate manner. In the illustratedembodiment, ovals are displayed around the focus targets 40. Othershapes may be employed, such as squares, rectangles, or other polygons.In one embodiment, the shape may be adapted to form a contour around thecorresponding item and, therefore, approximate the shape of the item. Inone embodiment, moving focus targets 40 may be graphically identified ina manner different from stationary focus targets 40. For instance, thecolor of the graphic highlight for moving focus target(s) 40 may bedifferent than the color of the graphic highlight for stationary focustarget(s) 40.

Also in block 34, and with additional reference to FIG. 6, a focus toucharea 42 of the display 24 may be associated with each focus target 40.In this manner, each focus touch area 42 serves as a user input to allowthe user to select a corresponding one of the focus targets 40. In theillustrated example, a first focus touch area 42 a corresponds to thefirst focus target 40 a, a second focus touch area 42 b corresponds tothe second focus target 40 b and a third focus touch area 42 ccorresponds to the third focus target 40 c. Upon user selection of afocus touch area 42 by pressing a corresponding portion of the display24, the focusing assembly 18 may be controlled to adjust the imagingobjects 14. In particular, the imaging objects 14 may be adjusted tobring into focus the object in the scene 38 corresponding to theassociated touched focus touch area 42. Graphical representations of thefocus touch areas 42 may or may not be displayed on the display 24.

With continued reference to the flow diagram of FIG. 4, the logical loopthat follows block 34 may be carried out for each of the identifiedfocus targets 38. However, for the sake of simplicity of thedescription, the remaining logical steps will be described with respectto one of the identified focus targets 40.

Following block 34, the logical flow may proceed to block 44 where adetermination may be made as to whether the focus target 40 is moving.If the focus target 40 is moving, the logical flow may proceed to block46. In block 46, the camera assembly 12 may gather and cache movementinformation in form of movement data, and analyze that movement data forthe focus target 40. For example, successive frames of the preview videosignal may be compared to determine and track the rate of movement andthe direction of the movement of the focus target 40 with respect to thescene 38. In one embodiment, the movement data may be cached for about1.5 seconds and may include data to determine how the focus target 40moves in time with respect to the scene 38. In this manner, arelationship between the corresponding focus touch area 42 and themoving focus target 40 may be maintained, even though the position ofthe focus target 40 with respect to the viewfinder may move so as to bein a different location than the position of the focus touch area 42that corresponds to the focus target 40.

Next, in block 48, an active duration for the touch area 42 for themoving focus target 40 is set. In one embodiment, the touch area 42 mayremain active for about 0.5 seconds after the touch area 42 has beenestablished. Even though the touch area 42 remains active at astationary location within the viewfinder, the corresponding focustarget 40 may move. By using the movement data, the current location ofthe focus target 40 is tracked. Assuming that a user will not actuallytouch the current position of the focus target 40 because thecorresponding object in the scene 38 is moving (e.g., the user's touchreaction speed may be slower than the displayed representation of theobject), the extended active duration of the touch area 42 for the focustarget 40 may allow the user to touch a former location of the focustarget 40. The maintained correlation between the touch area 42 and thefocus target 40 allows the camera assembly 12 to be controlled to focuson the current location of the focus target 40 in response to usertouching of the corresponding touch area 42, even though their relativelocations may be different. In one embodiment, the tracking of the focustarget 40 may incorporate predicting the location of the focus target 40in one or more future frames of the preview video signal. Corrections tothe predictions may be made based on incoming video frames. Thepredictive object tracking may facilitate the maintenance of thecorrelation between the touch area 42 and the focus target 40.

Following block 48 or following a negative determination in block 44,the logical flow may proceed to block 50. In block 50, a determinationmay be made as to whether the user touched one of the touch areas 42. Ifa negative determination is made, the logical flow may return to block34 to redetect the focus targets and establish corresponding touchareas. It is noted that a moving focus target may have plural touchareas that “follow” the movement of the focus target. This may be causedby setting the active duration of a corresponding touch area in block 48that survives the return to and processing of block 34. Although the“older” touch areas 42 will expire as time progresses, the unexpiredtouch areas 42 may aggregate to form a touch area trail and maycollectively “follow” the moving focus target so that the user may toucha former location of the focus target to invoke focusing on the movingfocus target.

If, in block 50, the user touches an active touch area 42, the logicalflow may proceed to block 52. In response, the camera assembly 12 willfocus on the object in the scene 38 that corresponds to the focus target40 that is associated with the touched touch area 42. In accordance withthe previous steps of the exemplary process, the focusing action will becarried out even if the object has moved relative to the location of thecorresponding touch area 42.

As an example, FIG. 7 depicts the user touching the display 24 in thelocation of a still active touch area 42 a, but where the correspondingfocus target 40 a has moved to another location. The relationshipbetween the touch area 42 a and the focus target 40 a is maintainedduring the time that the touch area 42 a is active. Therefore,touch-based focusing may be made even though the object is in motion. Ifthe user had touched one of the touch areas 42 b or 42 c that correspondto a relatively stationary focus target 40 b or 40 b, the cameraassembly 12 will be controlled to focus on the object corresponding tothe touched one of the touch areas.

Once the touch area is selected by the user, focus adjustment to focuson the corresponding object may be made. Furthermore, tracking of themovement of the object may be continued and focus adjustments may bemade to keep the moving item in focus. If the user commands the takingof a photograph, the camera assembly 12 may capture image data for thephotograph and store a corresponding image file in a memory 54 (FIG. 3).

Using a process for maintaining a correspondence between a touch areaand a moving object, the movement of objects in the scene may be trackedand a relationship with a touch area that is established at a formerlocation of the object may be preserved. In this manner, if the objectis moving too fast for the user to touch the current location of theobject, but the user does manage to touch a former location of theobject, focusing on the desired object may be made.

It will be appreciated that the illustrated exemplary embodiment is justone technique for accomplishing touch focusing for a moving object. Forexample, the disclosed technique for touch focusing may be viewed asinvolving a process of continuously caching movement data (e.g., forabout 1.5 seconds) for objects in the scene; analyzing the data todetermine how the objects move in time with respect to the viewfinder;dynamically recalculating (and possibly predicting) a touch area; andactivating the touch area for a period of time (e.g., about 0.5seconds).

As indicated, the touch area 42 for a moving target 40 may be made tofollow the target. In addition, for enhanced ergonomics, the size of thetouch area 42 may be made to expand (or enlarge) as a function of timeand/or as a function of the size of the corresponding moving item. Insome circumstances, the size of the touch area may become larger thanthe representation of the corresponding object on the display 24. It isalso possible that the size of the touch area 42 may be made to shrink(or decrease) as a function of time and/or as function of the size ofthe corresponding moving item.

For instance, Fitts' law may be applied to adjust the position ormovement of the touch area 42 relative to the target 40 and/or theadjust the size of the touch area 42. Fitts' law is a model of humanmovement during a pointing action and is used to predict the time theuser may take to touch the target as a function of the distance to thetarget and the size of the target. Considerations that may be taken intoaccount to adjust the position, size and/or movement of the touch areamay include, but are not limited to, size of the display 24 andorientation of the display 24 (e.g., landscape orientation or portraitorientation). Orientation may be determined using, for example, anaccelerometer or data from the camera assembly 12. Other considerationsmay include current finger position, which if known, may be used todynamically adjust the travel time to the target from the current fingerposition. This time may further be modified due to finger occlusion orwhether the user is using his or her thumb or index finger, which servesas an indicator of one-handed or two-handed use to set focus. As will beunderstood, some touch screens are able to assess finger position andfinger type.

As described, the touch area for an object in the scene may be active inlocations corresponding to the trajectory that the object has alreadytravelled. Further, the touch area may be adjusted (e.g., extended orshrunk) over time. In addition, the touch area may be extended into anarea of predicted trajectory of the object. Therefore, the movement ofthe object not only may be tracked, but future movement and/or positionof the object may be predicted based on past movement and speed of theobject. Areas of the electronic viewfinder corresponding to thepredicted location of the object may be added to the aggregate activetouch area for the object. As an example, if a car is moving rapidly tothe right, a future position of the car that is to the right of thecurrent position may be predicted and a corresponding portion of theviewfinder may become active as a touch area for the car. Then, if theuser were to touch the touch area located to the right of the car, thecar would be selected and the camera assembly would focus on the car.

It is possible that there may be multiple focus targets and some of thecorresponding touch areas may become closely spaced or overlap. In thiscase, the past and/or projected trajectories of the correspondingobjects may be used to resolve which object has been selected when auser touches the electronic viewfinder. For instance, the user may touchthe viewfinder and move his or her finger in the path that the object ofinterest has travelled and/or in the path that the user expects theobject to travel. The relationship between the movement of the fingerand the former and/or predicted movement of the object may be used toascertain which object is intended to have been selected by the user.

In additional embodiments, the “facing” of the object may be used aspart of establishing an appropriate touch area for the object. Facingmay be used, for example, to add a predicted touch area in front of anobject so that if the user attempts to select the object, the object maybe successfully selected. Examples may be a runner about to start arace, a drag racing car lined up at staging and starting lights, a birdor other animal at rest, an airplane at the end of a runway, etc. A facedetection and/or object silhouette detection engine may be used toidentify the profile of such an object and the direction in which theobject is facing. For these determinations, an appropriate predictivetouch area may be added or an existing touch area may be expanded toaccount for possible future movement of the object.

The disclosed approaches to touch focusing may result in establishingcamera focus that, in turn, enables improved shutter speed and sharperpictures. The approach is easy to use, even for those persons withaverage or below average hand eye coordination as the approach isimplemented in an intuitive user interface and where the exactness ofthe user's touch to the current position of the desired object asrepresented on the viewfinder need not be very precise.

The disclosed techniques have application in a wide variety ofsituations where it previously may have been very difficult to focus ona moving object. Examples of these situations include, but are notlimited to, focusing on a playing child, focusing on a domestic or wildanimal (e.g., a cat, dog or a bird), focusing on a car, etc.

The disclosed techniques have been described in the context of stillphotography. However, the disclosed techniques are equally applicable totaking video.

Also, the disclosed techniques of selecting a moving object have beendescribed in the context of setting the focus of a camera. The selectingof a moving object in the described manners also may be applied to othercamera functions, such as optical and/or digital zooming. For instance,selection of a touch area for a target may result in zooming in on thecorresponding object so that the object fills the viewfinder or fills apredetermined amount of the viewfinder. In one embodiment, the amount ofthe viewfinder that is filled by the object may be maintained as theobject moves in the scene.

The selecting of a moving object in the described manner may be appliedto settings other than focusing and/or zooming. For instance,adjustments to camera settings that affect image quality, such as whitebalance, sensitivity (e.g., ISO value), brightness, flash settings andso forth, may be based on metering on the object that corresponds to atouched touch area.

As indicated, the illustrated electronic device 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and2 is a mobile telephone. Features of the electronic device 10, whenimplemented as a mobile telephone, will be described with additionalreference to FIG. 3. The display 24 displays information to a user toenable the user to utilize the various features of the electronic device10. The display 24 also may be used to visually display content receivedby the electronic device 10 and/or retrieved from the memory 54. Thedisplay 24 may be used to present images, video and other graphics tothe user, such as photographs, mobile television content, Internetpages, and video associated with games.

The keypad 26 and/or buttons 28 provide for a variety of user inputoperations. For example, the keypad 26 may include alphanumeric keys forallowing entry of alphanumeric information. Navigation and select keysor a pointing device also may be present. Keys or key-like functionalityalso may be embodied as a touch screen associated with the display 24.Also, the display 24 and keypad 26 and/or buttons 28 may be used inconjunction with one another to implement soft key functionality.

The electronic device 10 includes communications circuitry that enablesthe electronic device 10 to establish communication with another device.Communications may include calls, data transfers, and the like. Callsmay take any suitable form such as, but not limited to, voice calls andvideo calls. The calls may be carried out over a cellularcircuit-switched network or may be in the form of a voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) call that is established over a packet-switchedcapability of a cellular network or over an alternative packet-switchednetwork (e.g., a network compatible with IEEE 802.11, which is commonlyreferred to as WiFi, or a network compatible with IEEE 802.16, which iscommonly referred to as WiMAX), for example. Data transfers may include,but are not limited to, receiving streaming content (e.g., streamingaudio, streaming video, etc.), receiving data feeds (e.g., pushed data,podcasts, really simple syndication (RSS) data feeds data feeds),downloading and/or uploading data (e.g., image files, video files, audiofiles, ring tones, Internet content, etc.), receiving or sendingmessages (e.g., text messages, instant messages, electronic mailmessages, multimedia messages), and so forth. This data may be processedby the electronic device 10, including storing the data in the memory54, executing applications to allow user interaction with the data,displaying video and/or image content associated with the data,outputting audio sounds associated with the data, and so forth.

In the exemplary embodiment, the communications circuitry may include anantenna 56 coupled to a radio circuit 58. The radio circuit 58 includesa radio frequency transmitter and receiver for transmitting andreceiving signals via the antenna 22. The radio circuit 58 may beconfigured to operate in a mobile communications system 60. Radiocircuit 58 types for interaction with a mobile radio network and/orbroadcasting network include, but are not limited to, global system formobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA),wideband CDMA (WCDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), WiFi, WiMAX,integrated services digital broadcasting (ISDB), high speed packetaccess (HSPA), etc., as well as advanced versions of these standards orany other appropriate standard. It will be appreciated that theelectronic device 10 may be capable of communicating using more than onestandard. Therefore, the antenna 56 and the radio circuit 58 mayrepresent one or more than one radio transceiver.

The system 60 may include a communications network 62 having a server 64(or servers) for managing calls placed by and destined to the electronicdevice 10, transmitting data to and receiving data from the electronicdevice 10 and carrying out any other support functions. The server 64communicates with the electronic device 10 via a transmission medium.The transmission medium may be any appropriate device or assembly,including, for example, a communications base station (e.g., a cellularservice tower, or “cell” tower), a wireless access point, a satellite,etc. The network 62 may support the communications activity of multipleelectronic devices 10 and other types of end user devices. As will beappreciated, the server 64 may be configured as a typical computersystem used to carry out server functions and may include a processorconfigured to execute software containing logical instructions thatembody the functions of the server 30 and a memory to store suchsoftware. In alternative arrangements, the electronic device 10 maywirelessly communicate directly with another electronic device 10 (e.g.,another mobile telephone or a computer) and without an interveningnetwork.

As indicated, the electronic device 10 may include a primary controlcircuit 32 that is configured to carry out overall control of thefunctions and operations of the electronic device 10. The controlcircuit 32 may include a processing device 66, such as a centralprocessing unit (CPU), microcontroller or microprocessor. The processingdevice 66 executes code stored in a memory (not shown) within thecontrol circuit 32 and/or in a separate memory, such as the memory 54,in order to carry out operation of the electronic device 10. The memory54 may be, for example, one or more of a buffer, a flash memory, a harddrive, a removable media, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, arandom access memory (RAM), or other suitable device. In a typicalarrangement, the memory 54 may include a non-volatile memory for longterm data storage and a volatile memory that functions as system memoryfor the control circuit 32. The memory 54 may exchange data with thecontrol circuit 32 over a data bus. Accompanying control lines and anaddress bus between the memory 54 and the control circuit 32 also may bepresent.

The electronic device 10 further includes a sound signal processingcircuit 68 for processing audio signals transmitted by and received fromthe radio circuit 24. Coupled to the sound processing circuit 36 are aspeaker 70 and a microphone 72 that enable a user to listen and speakvia the electronic device 10, and hear sounds generated in connectionwith other functions of the device 10. The sound processing circuit 68may include any appropriate buffers, decoders, amplifiers and so forth.

The display 24 may be coupled to the control circuit 32 by a videoprocessing circuit 74 that converts video data to a video signal used todrive the display 18. The video processing circuit 74 may include anyappropriate buffers, decoders, video data processors and so forth.

The electronic device 10 may further include one or more input/output(I/O) interface(s) 76. The I/O interface(s) 76 may be in the form oftypical mobile telephone I/O interfaces and may include one or moreelectrical connectors for operatively connecting the electronic device10 to another device (e.g., a computer) or an accessory (e.g., apersonal handsfree (PHF) device) via a cable. Further, operating powermay be received over the I/O interface(s) 76 and power to charge abattery of a power supply unit (PSU) 78 within the electronic device 10may be received over the I/O interface(s) 76. The PSU 78 may supplypower to operate the electronic device 10 in the absence of an externalpower source.

The electronic device 10 also may include various other components. Forinstance, a system clock 80 may clock components such as the controlcircuit 32 and the memory 54. A position data receiver 82, such as aglobal positioning system (GPS) receiver, may be involved in determiningthe location of the electronic device 10. A local wireless transceiver84, such as a Bluetooth chipset, may be used to establish communicationwith a nearby device, such as an accessory (e.g., a PHF device), anothermobile radio terminal, a computer or another device.

Although certain embodiments have been shown and described, it isunderstood that equivalents and modifications falling within the scopeof the appended claims will occur to others who are skilled in the artupon the reading and understanding of this specification.

1. A camera assembly, comprising: a touch sensitive electronicviewfinder; focusable imaging optics; an image sensor for convertinglight focused by the imaging optics into image data in the form of apreview video signal of a scene that contains a moving object; and acontroller configured to: analyze the video signal to track movement ofthe moving object; and establish a touch area for the touch sensitiveelectronic viewfinder, the touch area corresponding to the moving objectand remaining active in a former position of the object.
 2. The cameraassembly of claim 1, wherein the touch area remains active in the formerposition for a predetermined amount of time.
 3. The camera assembly ofclaim 1, wherein the object is an object that is recognized using arecognition engine or optical flow processing.
 4. The camera assembly ofclaim 1, wherein in response to detection of touching of the touch area,the controller is further configured to control focusing of the imagingoptics so that the camera assembly is focused on the object.
 5. Thecamera assembly of claim 4, wherein the controller is further configuredto capture image data and a store a photograph of the scene while thecamera assembly is focused on the object.
 6. The camera assembly ofclaim 1, wherein the controller is configured to repeat the analysis ofthe video signal and the establishment of the touch area so that thetouch area moves in a path that follows movement of the object.
 7. Thecamera assembly of claim 1, wherein the analysis includes detecting theobject as a possible focus target.
 8. The camera assembly of claim 7,wherein the controller is further configured to graphically highlightthe focus target on the electronic viewfinder.
 9. The camera assembly ofclaim 1, wherein at least one of a position of the touch area, amovement of the touch area or a size of the touch area is adjusted basedon a model that predicts an amount of time a user will take to touch adisplayed representation of the object.
 10. The camera assembly of claim1, wherein the touch area further includes a portion of the electronicviewfinder corresponding to a predicted location of the object.
 11. Amethod of focusing a camera assembly on a moving object, comprising:generating a preview video signal of a scene containing the object; andanalyzing the video signal to track movement of the moving object and toestablish a touch area for a touch sensitive electronic viewfinder ofthe camera assembly, the touch area corresponding to the moving objectand remaining active in a former position of the object.
 12. The methodof claim 10, wherein the touch area remains active in the formerposition for a predetermined amount of time.
 13. The method of claim 10,wherein the object is an object that is recognized using a recognitionengine or optical flow processing.
 14. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising detecting touching of the touch area and focusing the cameraassembly on the object.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprisingcapturing image data of the scene and storing a photograph of the scenewhile the camera assembly is focused on the object.
 16. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising repeating the analyzing and establishing ofthe touch area so that the touch area moves in a path that followsmovement of the object.
 17. The method of claim 10, further comprisingdetecting the object as a possible focus target.
 18. The method of claim17, further comprising graphically highlighting the focus target on theelectronic viewfinder.
 19. The method of claim 10, further comprisingadjusting at least one of a position of the touch area, a movement ofthe touch area or a size of the touch area based on a model thatpredicts an amount of time a user will take to touch a displayedrepresentation of the object.
 20. A camera assembly, comprising: a touchsensitive electronic viewfinder; imaging optics; an image sensor forconverting light focused by the imaging optics into image data in theform of a preview video signal of a scene that contains a moving object;and a controller configured to: analyze the video signal to trackmovement of the moving object; establish a touch area for the touchsensitive electronic viewfinder, the touch area corresponding to themoving object and remaining active in a former position of the object;and in response to detection of touching of the touch area, adjusting atleast one of a zoom setting so as to increase a relative size of themoving object in the viewfinder or a camera setting to adjust at leastone of white balance, sensitivity, brightness, or flash settings basedon the moving object.